Drier for sheet material

ABSTRACT

An elongated suction hood has an open side adapted to face continuously moving sheet material to be dried by one or more elongated electrical heaters disposed in the hood. An elongated combination reflector and shield is mounted in the hood for rotational adjustment about each heater between a reflecting position on the side of the heater opposite the open side of the hood and a shielding position interposed between the heater and open side of the hood.

United States Patent Nelson [54] DRIER FOR SHEET MATERIAL [72] inventor:Victor R. Nelson, 2700 SW. Summit Drive, Lake Oswego, Oreg. 97034 [22]Filed: June 1, 1970 211 Appl. No.: 41,785

[4 1 Jan. 25, 1972 3,406,954 l0/l968 2,664,282 l2/l953 Fannon ..263/3Mann ..263/50 X Primary Examiner-Carroll B. Dority, Jr. Attorney-OliverD. Olson [5 7] ABSTRACT An elongated suction hood has an open sideadapted to face continuously moving sheet material to be dried by one ormore elongated electrical heaters disposed in the hood. An elongatedcombination reflector and shield is mounted in the hood for rotationaladjustment about each heater between a reflecting position on the sideof the heater opposite the open side of the hood and a shieldingposition interposed between the heater and open side of the hood.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures l h. "h.

. stock being dried.

DRIER FOR SIIEET MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates to driers, and more particularly to a drier for drying sheetstock during continuous passage through processing apparatus.

There are many industrial applications, such as paper converting,printing, etc., in which it is necessary or desirable to dry web stockas it progresses in a continuous strip through processing apparatus. Insuch applications it is important to be able to control the drier toprevent burning or other damage to the web stock in the event ofstoppage or slow down of movement of the latter through the processingapparatus.

Driers of the class described heretofore have provided control againstburning or damage of web stock by mechanism which moves the entireheater assembly away from the web stock. Because of the size and weightof such driers, the power requirement for their movement isconsiderable; the movement necessarily is sufficiently slow to preventdamage to the driers; and the space required to accommodate such driersand their movement necessarily limits the types of equipment with whichsuch driers may be used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In its basic concept the drier of thisinvention utilizes a combination reflector and shield mounted on anelongated fixed housing for movement about an elongated heater betweenheat-reflecting and heat-shielding positions relative to sheet It is byvirtue of the foregoing basic concept that the principal objective ofthis invention is achieved; namely, to overcome the aforementioneddisadvantages of prior driers.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a drierof the class described which is of simplified construction foreconomical manufacture, maintenance and repair.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention willappear fromthe following detailed description, taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing of the preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic elevationshowing the drier of this invention in operative association withcontinuously moving sheet stock and illustrating means for controllingthe drier by said moving sheet stock.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The drier illustrated in thedrawing includes an elongated housing in the fonn of a suction hood. Thehood is'formed by bending sheet metal along lines to provide the angledback wall and spaced sidewalls 12. The front of the hood is open and theends are closed by end plates 14 secured to the back and sidewallsbysuch means as the screws 16.

The backwall preferably is lined internally with heat insulationmaterial 18, such as sheet of Cerefelt secured to the inner surface ofthe backwall of adhesive or other suitable means.

Suction means is provided for withdrawing excessive heat from within thehood. In the embodiment illustrated, this means is provided by thehollow coupling 20. The open inlet end of the coupling is provided by aperipheral flange 22 which was secured to the rear wall 10 of the hoodby such means as the screws 24. The inlet end of the coupling registerswith correspondingly shaped openings in the rear wall and insulationmaterial, as will be understood. The coupling includes an outletextension 26 which is adapted to be connected to a conduit leading to avacuum pump or exhaust fan (not shown) by which to create a suctionwithin the hood.

In the embodiment illustrated there is associated with the hood a pairof laterally spaced, elongated heaters 28 and 30 which extend in thelongitudinal direction of the hood. A single heater, or three or moreheaters, may be associated with the housing, as will be understood. Theheaters may be of any conventional type, such as an electricalresistance element en closed in a rod, etc. The heaters illustrated inthe drawing are of that type, provided at their opposite ends withelectrical terminals 32 for connection to a suitable source ofelectrical potential.

The heaters extend outward of the hood at their opposite ends, throughopenings provided in the end plates 14 as explained hereinafter, and aresupported adjacent their outer ends by apertured brackets 34 secured tothe end plates 14 as by means of screws 36. The brackets and hood areisolated electrically from terminals 32 by insulating washers 38.

Associated with each heater is acombination reflector and shield member40. In the embodiment illustrated this member is in the form of anelongated strip of metal curved arcuately to semicircularcross-sectional shape. It is spaced from and extends along the length ofthe heater and is secured at each of its opposite ends, as by means ofscrews 42, to a flange 44 of a hollbw hub 46. The adjacent end of theheater extends freely through the hub, as shown.

Each hub is joumaled for rotation in a bearing 48 mounted in theassociated end plate 14. A gear 50 is secured, as by a press fit, toeach hub between the bearing 48 and flange 44.

The gears 50 associated with the combination reflector and shieldmembers 40 are interconnected through common drive gear 52 secured tothe opposite'e nds of an elongated drive shaft 54 as by means of keys56. The opposite ends of the drive shaft are journaled in bearings 58mounted in the end plates 14 of the hood.

It will be understood that the gears 50 associated with the combinationreflector and shield members 40 may be arranged for directinterengagement and that the drive gear 52 may be arranged to engageonly one of the gears 50. Such an arrangement is convenient when threeor more heater assemblies are used in a hood.

One end of the drive shaft 54 is provided with an axial bore which isexposed through the hollow bearing 58 to the outer side of the end plate14. This bore is arranged to receive the output shaft 60 of a drivemotor 62 mounted on the outer side of the end plate. Means such as key64 interconnects the output shaft and drive shaft for simultaneousrotation.

The drive motor may be electric, hydraulic or pneumatic. In any case,means is provided for controlling the driving of the motor to limitrotation of the gears 50 to 1 80 intervals. In this manner combinationreflector and shield members 40 may be rotated between theheat-reflecting position illustrated in FIG. 2, wherein they arepositioned on the side of the heater elements 28 and 30 opposite-theopen end of the housing, and a shielding position in which they areinterposed between the electric supply source through'the electricswitch 78. The

switch may be of the type which includes a rotary member capable ofconnection through chain 82 to idler roll 70. The switch is maintainedopen while the strip of paper is moved continuously at a predeterminedrate of speed. However, the switch closes when the rotational speed ofroll 70 is decreased below a predetermined value, either by slowdown orbreakage of the paper P.

Thus, in the event of breakage or slowdown of the sheet of paper, thedrive motor 62 is activated to rotate the drive shaft 54 and gears 50 tomove the combination reflector and shield members 40 quickly from thereflecting position illustrated in FIG. 2, to the shielding positionpreviously described. In this manner the paper is shielded from damageby radiant energy from the heaters. The heat generated within the hoodis carried away through the suction coupling 20.

Although only one heater is shown in association with each combinationreflector and shield member 40, it is to be understood that two or moreheaters may be so associated, if desired.

The length of the drier housing and heater elements may be varied toaccommodate association with various types of processing apparatus. Thecross-sectional dimension of the drier (FIG. 2) is minimized by thecomponent arrangement illustrated. Since the housing is maintained in afixed position relative to processing apparatus, the drier utilizes aminimum of space and therefore may be integrated into a wide variety ofprinting presses and other processing apparatus, without signifleantmodification of the latter.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes inthe size, shape, number and arrangement of parts described hereinbeforemay be made without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having now described my invention and the manner in which it may beused, I claim:

1. A drier comprising a. an elongated housing having an open side,

b. elongated heater means in the housing projecting outward therefromfreely through an opening in at least one of the opposite ends of thehousing,

c. support means on the housing releasably supporting the heater meansthereon,

d. elongated combination reflector and shield means in the housingspaced from and extending parallel to the heater means,

e. driven gear means mounted rotatably on the housing independently ofthe heater means and having a central opening freely receiving theheater means therethrough,

f. drive means on the housing engaging the driven gear means forrotating the latter, and

g. means securing the combination reflector and shield means to thedriven gear means for rotation therewith between a heat-reflectingposition on the side of the heater means opposite the open side of thehousing and a heat-shielding position interposed between the heatermeans and open side of the housing.

2. The drier of claim 1 including coupling means on the housing forcommunicating the interior of the latter with a source of suction.

3. The drier of claim 1 including drive gear means mounted rotatably onthe housing and engaging the driven gear means, and rotary drive meanson the housing engaging the drive gear means.

4. The drier of claim 1 wherein a. the heater means comprises aplurality of spaced elongated electric heaters,

b. the driven gear means comprises a plurality of driven gears oneassociated with each heater means and each mounting a combinationreflector and shield means, and

c. the drive means operatively engages the plurality of driven gears forsimultaneous rotation of the latter.

1. A drier comprising a. an elongated housing having an open side, b.elongated heater means in the housing projecting outward therefromfreely through an opening in at least one of the opposite ends of thehousing, c. support means on the housing releasably supporting theheater means thereon, d. elongated combination reflector and shieldmeans in the housing spaced from and extending parallel to the heatermeans, e. driven gear means mounted rotatably on the housingindependently of the heater means and having a central opening freelyreceiving the heater means therethrough, f. drive means on the housingengaging the driven gear means for rotating the latter, and g. meanssecuring the combination reflector and shield means to the driven gearmeans for rotation therewith between a heatreflecting position on theside of the heater means opposite the open side of the housing and aheat-shielding position interposed between the heater means and openside of the housing.
 2. The drier of claim 1 including coupling means onthe housing for communicating the interior of the latter with a sourceof suction.
 3. The drier of claim 1 including drive gear means mountedrotatably on the housing and engaging the driven gear means, and rotarydrive means on the housing engaging the drive gear means.
 4. The drierof claim 1 wherein a. the heater means comprises a plurality of spacedelongated electric heaters, b. the driven gear means comprises aplurality of driven gears one associated with each heater means and eachmounting a combination reflector and shield means, and c. the drivemeans operatively engages the plurality of driven gears for simultaneousrotation of the latter.